Design and preliminary results of the X-ray scanning nano-XRD end-station at the NANOSCOPIUM beamline of synchrotron SOLEIL

Abstract A new nano-probe end station mainly oriented for nano X-ray diffraction experiments is under development at the NANOSCOPIUM beamline of the synchrotron SOLEIL. In order to bring the maximum of flexibility in the positioning of the X-ray diffraction 2D detector, it has been opted to use an industrial robot with the capability to cover a large working volume. The robotic system is fully integrated into the TANGO control system of the beamline using a feature-based approach. Mechanicals precisions have been characterized and show that the detector can be positioned with an absolute accuracy less than 200 µm, a pointing accuracy less than 68 µrad, a repeatability of a given position within +-89 µm and a stability over 45 h better than 10 µm. Preliminary X-ray diffraction experiments have been performed which confirm both the good positioning performances and the adaptably of the robotic system for different diffraction geometry with scalable angular resolution.